OdishaPlus Bureau
Naveen Patnaik was sworn in as Chief Minister of Odisha for the fifth consecutive term in a glittering function held at the Exhibition ground on Wednesday. The 73-year old chief minister was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Prof. Ganeshi Lal .Other members of the new Council of Ministers also took oath.
Naveen has twenty ministers in the new Council . Ten are new faces which includes two women. The CM’s siblings — eminent writer Gita Mehta and industrialist Prem Patnaik — were present on the occasion. Hundreds of women self-help group members from different parts of the State came to witness the ceremony. A large number of dignitaries too were present.
“It’s a nostalgic and personal journey for me to reminiscence the past 19 years. Today while I take oath of office for the fifth term, I humbly accept the responsibility that comes with the faith my 4.5 crore family members have reposed on me, yet again,” tweeted the five-time Chief Minister.
It’s a nostalgic personal journey for me to reminisce the past 19 years. Today while I take oath of office for the 5th term, I humbly accept the responsibility that comes with the faith my 4.5 crore family members have reposed on me, yet again. pic.twitter.com/wU8gxGbiCl
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) May 29, 2019
Those who took oath as Cabinet Ministers were Ranendra Pratap Swain, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Prafulla Mallick, Padmanabha Behera, Pratap Jena, Niranjan Pujari, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Sudam Marandi, Sushant Singh, Naba Kishore Das and Tukuni Sahu. Marandi, a tribal leader from Mayurbhanj, took the oath in Santhali language.
Naveen appointed Ashok Chandra Panda, Samir Ranjan Dash, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Dibya Shankar Mishra, Premananda Nayak, Raghunandan Das, Padmini Dian, Tusharkanti Behera and Jagannath Saraka as Ministers of State.The portfolios were distributed in the afternoon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Naveen Patnaik. In a tweet, he said, “I assure complete cooperation from the Centre in working for Odisha’s progress.”
Congratulations to Shri Naveen Patnaik Ji on taking oath as Odisha’s Chief Minister. Best wishes to him and his team in fulfilling the people’s aspirations. I assure complete cooperation from the Centre in working for Odisha’s progress. @Naveen_Odisha
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 29, 2019
Naveen Patnaik became Chief Minister of Odisha for the first time on March 5, 2000. The Bharatiya Janata Party was its alliance partner. In 2009 the alliance ended and Naveen has been holding to his fortress on his own ever since.
This is for the first time the BJD government headed by Naveen will have the BJP as the main Opposition in the State. The BJP has bagged 23 seats while the Congress has nine MLAs in the new assembly
The BJD fought the 2019 elections tooth and nail and won 112 of the 146 Assembly seats for which elections were held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls. Polling has been put off in the Patkura seat due to the death of the BJD nominee.
This is for the first time the BJD government headed by Naveen will have the BJP as the main Opposition in the State. The BJP has bagged 23 seats while the Congress has nine MLAs in the new assembly.